There are no Khaki Dutch Bantams in the US/Canada. We cannot "make" them and have a Dutch Bantam. Any cross to another bantam breed with the Chocolate/Khaki genes is not compatible with the TYPE in Dutch Bantams. The Black Dutch is an example. None were imported and they were made with OEGB, Black Rosecombs, other bantams in Black. They still, after more than 20 years, do not fit the Standards accepted by ABA and APA for the DUTCH. White, same, none imported, the crosses have disappeared: Blue, Self Blue, Cuckoo, the same. There are some, but they do not meet the Standard TYPE of Dutch, that makes them unique and different from all other Bantam breeds!. Varieties are bred by rules--mongrels are produced by crosses of color genes that are not acceptable, and the offspring cannot be considered "breeding birds". Even in The Netherlands, new breeders have not followed those genetic rules, and some "new" varieties are very poor DUTCH TYPE. They disappear in a few years, with few breeders and exhibitors, and knowledge of the best Dutch type--the Khaki Dutch I have seen, are very good Dutch TYPE, beautiful bantams!
It took nearly 50 years to produce the TRUE DUTCH, from pictures painted and drawn by C.S Th van Gink, (most around 1910-14) perhaps the only poultry Breed that was developed from pictures, with endless trials, until the final Dutch were produced in the late 1940s and early 1950s that gave us the present correct "van Gink" Dutch, that with small changes, became the Standard Language description of our distinctly DUTCH of today. In 1913, van Gink painted pictures of what he called Speckled Dutch but were Mille Fleur, very good pattern. However, there were NONE and it was 1990 before Jan Voets, in the Netherlands, put the color into Dutch, by using DUTCH birds in Wheaten, Buff Columbian, Cuckoo, for Dutch TYPE, but took the color from Belgian d'uccles and German Rosecombs. Then is was a project shared with several other breeders to produce the numbers required for selection over 10 years, and then a few years more before they were accepted as an approved variety in The Netherlands. It will be 10 years before serious breeders could have ours "approved" in Dutch. Meantime, they ARE Dutch, but not in numbers that meet the STandard language. They are NOT Rosecombs or Belgian--but still have remnants of those bantam breeds--and the few that were chosen to start the variety in Dutch, were closest to Dutch TYPE and not best Rosecombs or Belgian.
The Khaki Dutch were made from breeds that are not available in the US, near relatives of Dutch, regional in origin and still maintained in small numbers by breeders in The Netherland--shown just in Regional shows, not often at the largest shows in Holland. We have so much to learn--and it is great pleasure to spend the years doing it!
The US first imports were in only several varieties with few imports in the 1970s. Immediately the few breeders started the outcrossing to other breeds of bantams we had in the US--and lost some of the most important parts of the TYPE--leg length, must be SHORT, wing size and length--must be large, carried LOW. just not touching the ground, rounded tips swept back to almost touch under the tail-- and rounded back into hackle and up the tail. Ear lobes must be pure white, quite small and smooth and oblong to almond shape. Saddle is broad and covered in plentiful LONG saddle hackle that connects up to the tail. Lesser sickles have pointed tips. There are more descriptions that separate Dutch from other bantam breeds, and serious breeders will continue to select for breeding, those birds that show fewest or NONE of the characteristics of other breeds that lingers in many flocks. GOOD RECORDS will help keep the Dutch as a distinct breed and in demand (that usually exceeds the supply of correct birds!) Never an end to study of the breed and the Genetics of their breeding, color and type.
There have been few imports, since the late 1970s, and the first and major importer (long passed away) gave his breeding flock away, as pet bantams, as he could not handle the outcrossing and change of his beloved bantam! US restrictions make if almost impossible to bring in birds at present--maybe it will change in time??? My first imports were in 1992 and in late 1990s. Mille Fleurs were imported (just 5 birds) in 2001, and because their originator in Holland, used the color genes from German Rosecombs--they are still a work in progress (earlobes main faults, but are, with selection, getting smaller, flatter, and DUTCH--but takes serious breeders, who will select only the best for breeding--to reach the Standard, that they have now reached in Holland/Germany and several other European countries.
